(Montreal) The question was simple: Had Eye of the Tiger Management lost a tiger, as Camille Estephan likes to call his proteges, following the discomfiture of Yves Ulysse junior, Thursday at the Casino de Montreal.
“It’s too easy to say now,” said Estephan at the end of the evening. He has to think about it. We will sit down; there are a lot of emotions right now. It’s a huge disappointment. »
Ulysse (22-3, 12 KOs) said earlier this week that if he lost, it would be the last fight of his career. It was final: Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela (26-3-1, 16 K.-O.) took only 52 seconds to get rid of the Montrealer, with a violent uppercut from the right to the chin.
It wasn’t even the first stroke of power suffered by Ulysses during this short outing. A colleague pointed out to Estephan that after the fight, a corner man from Ulysses said the boxer was “relieved” he no longer felt that pressure, that he was ready to move on. Words that seemed to surprise Estephan.
“I simply told him not to talk about retirement, not to talk about anything, to take care of him and that we would talk again (in a few days). It will be his decision. If he decides it’s the end, that will be his decision. He’s the one who ate the kick of me, it’s not me. […] I am very very disappointed for him. It happens. It’s cruel the world of boxing: sometimes you can do a whole fight and in one punch, it’s over. »
Another colleague saw Ulysses smiling as he left the Casino. It was the first time we saw him smile all week. He was on edge throughout the promotion of this gala. When this was pointed out to Estephan, he replied that when Ulysses is “grumpy” he sometimes gives his best performances.
That was clearly not the case on Thursday. When we asked Estephan if he felt that his boxer still wanted to be in the ring, the promoter did not cut corners.
“This evening was not his evening. He ate a whole shot. »
Ulysses did not meet the media on site.
Bazinyan: mission accomplished
In the case of Erik Bazinyan, Estephan believes that the 27-year-old boxer has accomplished his mission and that as hoped, this fight will allow him to see his name at the top of the big posters.
“It’s clear that beating Alantez Fox the way he did, after a tough, tough, borderline bastard fight; the way it came out at 10e round is what makes it possible to say that it belongs to the elite. »
What happens next depends a lot on the decision of Canelo Alvarez, holder of the four belts at 168 pounds. If he decides to return to face Dmitry Bivol at 175, the titles could become vacant and Bazinyan (29-0, 21 KOs) would then find himself in an excellent position, he who occupied the fourth level at the World Boxing Council, the third in the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organization, as well as ninth in the International Boxing Federation before the fight.
The next EOTTM gala will take place on March 23 and will offer in the final the long-awaited duel at super middleweight between Christian Mbilli (23-0, 20 KO) and the Ecuadorian Carlos Gongora (21-1, 16 K.- O.) in the final.